The Hawaii Reporter reports, Tom Yamachika, head of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, has recently uncovered an economic study for commissioned by the state recommending, among other things, Hawaii raise taxes on gasoline by $.85 per gallon to discourage consumption and ostensibly improve the environment.
Noting Hawaii’s fuel taxes are higher than 46 of the 50 states' gasoline taxes, but low compared to the European Union’s gasoline taxes, to reduce consumption, the study recommends the state tax on gasoline be increased by 400%, which the authors argue would bring in an additional $418 million in revenue per year.
Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., president and CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii argues there is a serious drawback to the study’s proposed gas tax hike. It’s extremely regressive. In the July 18, Hawaii Reporter article, Akina says, “[I]t's like kicking a person when he's already down. Hawaii's cost-of-living, business regulatory climate, affordable housing shortage, rising...

Energy and Environment

Despite an $11.5 billion maintenance backlog marring visitor experiences at national parks and leaving important maintenance projects unaddressed, the federal government continues to add new properties to the park system.
The parks are managed by the National Park Service (NPS), a division of the Department of the Interior.
As of September 2014, the NPS...

States Sue Over WOTUS
By Bonner R. Cohen
The Obama administration’s plan to expand the definition of wetlands in order to increase the number of waterways protected by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) edicts is running into multiple roadblocks.
Twenty-nine states are suing EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in two separate lawsuits, over the White House’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which was...